Network Scanner. Benefits of Using

The size of the network depends greatly on the enterprise where it operates: larger companies often require networks with a great number of appliances. Sometimes, the size of the network may be so huge that it’s quite difficult to make an inventory list of it manually. A network inventory scanner can become a nice solution in this case. So what is a network scanner and when should it be used?

The Main Principles of Network Scanning

Network scanning is a procedure of investigating a network for the purpose of collecting and revealing information about computer systems.

Network scanning often includes port scanning and vulnerability scanning. The port scanning process is done by sending data packets through the network to a specified port to check whether the network services are available on that node. This way of scanning is often used for troubleshooting the faults in the system and enhancing the security of the system.

The vulnerability scanning may be applied for other purposes as it helps to reveal the breaches in the software and OSes in the network.

How to Use Total Network Inventory for Network Scanning

When you need an efficient tool for scanning your network, you may use either a separate network scanning software or go with a more complex tool like Total Network Inventory (TNI). TNI is special software designed for generating and displaying an inventory list of devices connected to the network, and network scanning is included in it as one of its main functions.

When you use TNI, you don’t need to investigate the whole network: the number of the objects to scan may be determined by selecting IP networks, Windows networks or Active Directory. All selections can be saved and repeated as many times as required.

Don’t forget that while using TNI, you are required to configure the credentials to be able to reach the remote computers. For Windows systems, you can choose your current login as the default login. The credentials for the SSH and SNMP should be specified in the Edit tab.

You may specify the limits for the number of snapshots and determine the age of the snapshot.

Using automatized tools for the network management seems to be rather beneficial. You may try your hand with TNI and see how this application actually works.

Our post is coming to its end! We hope that it has helped you to get a general notion of what a network scanning is and how a network scanner can help you investigate your network and get complete reports about its assets.

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Kevin Liew is a web designer and developer and keen on contributing to the web development industry. He loves frontend development and absolutely amazed by jQuery. Feel free to say hi to me, or follow @quenesswebblog on twitter.